Update
A defining year for affordability—and a chance to reshape our economy
12. 17. 2025
2025 was the year the affordability crisis became impossible to ignore. Economic angst defines daily life for millions of people across the country. Families are working harder than ever, yet still struggling to cover the essentials like groceries, healthcare, and utilities.
Affordability isn’t just sticker shock at checkout: it’s the way people consistently experience the economy as broken and rigged. For most Americans, the economy is the most immediate test of whether the country is working for them—and right now, it isn’t. The economic ladder has eroded for too many people. Hard work and playing by the rules no longer lead to basic stability or security, let alone flourishing.
When people lose confidence that our democracy can facilitate paths to a better life, it undermines their trust in government and fuels the disillusionment many are experiencing today. In a moment marred by political upheaval and economic volatility, ESP set out to prove that we can collectively make a different set of choices to deliver stability, dignity, and possibility for families.
We launched an affordability campaign, weaving together the campaigning, narrative and policy expertise ESP is known for. It began with the release of our Affordability Framework, which helps policymakers, advocates, community leaders, and anyone understand why life has become unaffordable. The framework explains the forces driving the crisis—how broken markets drive costs up and keep even the basics out of reach, and how broken incomes prevent people’s paychecks from keeping up with the high cost of living. We shaped this work by listening to communities through our Road to Affordability Tour. Starting in California and Illinois, we heard firsthand how the affordability crisis is reshaping daily life. As one community member told us, the cost of living is “getting to the point where we can’t cut down anymore. We’re getting to the bare minimums. Even with a decent living, with a decent pay, it’s still not enough.”
We built the beginnings of a growing, diverse coalition to fight for affordability. Through initiatives like POP! Economy, our new social media brand that uses humor, pop culture, and storytelling to make sense of the economy; and our inaugural Economic Futures Cohort, a fellowship of trusted creators and independent journalists, we connected the dots between people’s lived experience and the larger forces shaping it. Together, these efforts reached the Young and Anxious—Millennial and Gen Z audiences not engaged in traditional economic or political spaces, who are feeling the affordability crisis most acutely. By translating complex ideas into content that reflects real life and lifts up bold solutions, we turned isolation and frustration into connection and momentum. In 2026, we will launch the Affordability Collaborative, bringing together state and federal organizations focused on narrative campaigning and field organizing on affordability. With lots of momentum in the affordability space, there is a huge opportunity to ensure collaboration and coordination in the broader battle for an affordable future.
We picked strategic fights to put cash in families’ hands, protect people from predatory corporate practices, and create the conditions needed to secure future political wins at the state and federal levels. In Texas, Economic Security Project Action (ESPA) worked alongside local community organizations Every Texan and UpTogether to defeat a statewide ban on guaranteed income and protect critical supports that help keep families afloat when they need it most. In California, our affiliate, Economic Security California (ESCA), helped advance first-in-the-nation protections against algorithmic price-fixing when Governor Newsom signed AB 325 into law, a critical step in confronting corporate practices that quietly drive up prices for consumers.
In Washington, ESPA fought alongside national partners to keep the Child Tax Credit (CTC) as robust as possible. While congressional Republicans sought to exclude low income and immigrant children from the CTC, we successfully protected 2 million children of mixed-status families, and continue to fight to restore and expand it fully. At the state level, we helped secure 26 new or expanded EITCs and CTCs, putting $1.5 billion back in the pockets of millions of families.
ESPA made accessible and affordable healthcare THE defining issue of the year, splitting President Trump’s coalition apart on a key kitchen-table issue. ESPA quickly identified HR 1’s failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits as a looming affordability flashpoint, and built a robust accountability campaign, collaborating with partners like Protect Our Care to sound the alarm and hold lawmakers accountable for a policy choice that will send healthcare costs soaring for 22 million Americans. Through content creator collaborations, dozens of local and national earned media hits, including a New York Times op-ed, and a national week of action that spurred more than 40 accountability events across 12 states, ESPA and partners led the charge to make healthcare the defining wedge issue.
Economic Security Illinois (ESIL) helped elevate public grocery stores and demonstrate what’s possible when communities, backed by the government, take on corporate power. In Venice, Illinois—a historically Black community that’s been disinvested for years—the nation’s first municipally owned grocery store broke ground this fall, building food security and local wealth. The excitement behind public grocery stores has become a powerful example of government’s ability to deliver as the idea quickly gains momentum in cities across the country. In Cook County, we helped policymakers make history when it became the nation’s first government entity to back a permanent guaranteed income program with the Cook County Promise, demonstrating government’s ability to make life more affordable.
2026 will mark ESP’s 10th anniversary. This isn’t just a moment to celebrate concrete wins to date, like stewarding over 160 guaranteed income pilots, helping secure the first-ever expanded federal Child Tax Credit, and advancing market-shaping policies like antitrust and public options—it’s a strategic inflection point to reflect on a decade of bold ideas and deploy them for the next era of our work.
We are ready to meet the moment by advancing solutions equal to the scale of the affordability crisis—taking a holistic approach that brings policy, political strategy, narrative, and organizing together—and taking on the fights ahead that will restore people’s confidence that a better future is possible.
What Else We’ve Been Up To
As we look to 2026, we’ll continue investing in the creative and narrative power needed to address the affordability crisis. Here’s a closer look at what we learned this year—and how it’s shaping the work ahead.
Inside our Economic Futures Cohort Convening in New York
Last month in New York, we convened our inaugural Economic Futures Cohort, our fellowship of creators and independent journalists whose content has reached more than five million people. The convening gave creators time to reflect, connect, and collaborate—and it was awesome! In addition to reaching new untapped audiences, we created a quasi newsroom for the new media landscape that supports creators with shared resources and community. As one of the creators, John Russell, explained, “I was just a singular person out there trying to do things, but that’s really intimidating, because you don’t have access to all the resources that you need… I think one of the things that really stood out to me about this program was solving that problem. If you are a one-person newsroom, it’s really helpful to get introduced to and collaborate with other people who are in this situation and get ideas flowing.”
Content highlights from the fellowship include:
- Brian Baez took his followers inside Atlanta’s new public grocery store and showed how pantry staples like eggs, milk, and bread were more affordable compared to traditional grocery store prices.
- Max Read also drew on the public options framework in an essay about Public AI, exploring how a publicly oriented approach to AI could bridge polarized debates and ensure emerging technologies are designed for the public good.
The fellowship underscored how essential creator storytelling is to help our new audiences make sense of their economic lives, and we’re committed to continuing to build meaningful partnerships with creators that meet people where they are.
ICYMI: Our Picks
From public banking to algorithmic price-fixing, here are a few stories that caught our attention this month.
Public options are how we fight back against broken markets
More than 700,000 Illinoisians lack access to traditional banking, forcing many to rely on check-cashing stores, payday lenders, and other predatory services—often paying over 10% of their earnings just to access their own money. In an op-ed for Crain’s Chicago, ESIL Director Sarah Saheb explains how public banking, through fee-free debit accounts and reinvestment in local communities, could change that. “In a moment when everything is unaffordable, public options offer a real way forward. They fill gaps, introduce competition, and most importantly, they give families choices where there are none today.”
Chris Hughes discusses President Trump’s affordability pitch
ESP co-founder Chris Hughes joins MSNBC to explain why families need equitable, well-designed cash policies paired with real investments in affordability like housing, healthcare, and childcare, to address widening wealth and income inequality—and why Trump Accounts fall short.
More Perfect Union reporting uncovers a secret corporate scheme to raise prices
A months-long investigation by More Perfect Union, in partnership with Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative, reveals how Instacart uses AI-driven pricing tools to charge different customers different prices for the same groceries—both online and in physical stores. The investigation found this hidden practice could cost families as much as $1,200 a year. “The holy grail for a long time has been, what if we could charge every single person the maximum amount that we know they’re able to or willing to pay?”
Mike Konczal is on Substack
ESP’s Senior Director of Policy and Research, Mike Konczal’s, Substack offers a clear, data-driven, and (funny!) take on today’s biggest economic and policy debates—from the impact of Medicaid and SNAP cuts to why Fed independence matters. Subscribe today!
Affordability has become a pressure point in the economy.
Creator Kyla Scanlon examines how affordability has emerged as a defining economic issue, looking at President Trump’s response, from rolling back tariffs to the idea of a 50-year mortgage. She highlights ESP’s framework to explain what’s actually driving it and what it will take to address it. “When we talk about affordability, there are usually three core drivers behind it: gatekeepers, fragmented markets, and manipulated signals.”